"All the talk was 'we're going to be energetic, we're going to be high press at every opportunity'. That demands real fitness.

"It's a difficult balance coming in after 11 games to push the players when they're playing two, maybe three games a week, weekend, midweek, weekend. I think it's a hard thing, a big ask to do that and not suffer the problems they've suffered."

"They've got to manage that better because that can ruin your season. Hamstrings are not two or three days out, they can range from 10 days to six weeks so a hamstring is the one that players do not want."